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Firefighters extinguish flames at top-secret spy facility in Ottawa

External views of the new Communications Security Establishment of Canada (CSEC) spy headquarters off Ogilvie Road in Ottawa. Still under construction, the headquarters, complete with moats and sweeping glass architecture, is due to be finished in 2014. (Julie Oliver/Ottawa Citizen)

OTTAWA — Ottawa firefighters put out a small blaze at the future headquarters of Canada’s top-secret electronic spy agency at around midnight Saturday.

Several 911 calls reported flames coming from the roof of the sprawling Ogilvie Road complex, which is still under construction. The building is the future headquarters for the Communications Security Establishment Canada (CSEC).

The 72,000 square-metre building, dubbed “Camelot” in internal government documents, is officially budgeted at $880 million and is slated for completion sometime in 2015-2016. It is expected to house over 1,800 employees.

CSEC intercepts, decodes, translates and analyzes the communications of Canada’s adversaries. It also safeguards government computer systems.